University of Toronto
Illustration of Graecopithecus freybergi which, at 7.2 million years old, may be the oldest hominin.
After teeth in Greece, bone found in the Balkans is 7.2 million years old, making it older than Orror, one of the first evidence of bipedalism in the human lineage and currently holds the title of oldest hominid.
For decades, the scientific community considered that the first hominids (a taxonomic group that includes human ancestors that emerged after the evolutionary separation from chimpanzees) appeared in Africa, around 7 million years ago. New research may be debunking this, suggesting that an even older specimen of this lineage may have lived in the Balkans.
At the heart of this hypothesis is the Graecopithecusa prehistoric primate already, at which time some teeth were identified in Greece.
Now, the discovery of a femur at the archaeological site of Azmaka, in Bulgariaexplains better how this being moved, and reinforces the possibility of it being one of the first hominids.
The bone belonged to a female weighing approximately 24 kilos and presents an elongated femoral neck, an anatomical characteristic associated with bipedal locomotion. According to the study Wednesday in Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, this ability to walk on two limbs is considered one of the traits of early hominins and distinguishes them from other great apes like chimpanzees.
With an estimated age of 7.2 million yearsthe fossil may be older than Orror’s — which emerged in Kenya around seven million years ago and is often one of the earliest evidence of bipedalism in the human lineage — currently considered the oldest undisputed hominid, says .
Still, the study authors emphasize that the Graecopithecus probably was not a fully developed biped. The morphology of the femur rather suggests a transitional form of bipedalism, which combines movement on two and four limbs.
The researchers also argue that this species could have evolved from older Eurasian primatessuch as Ouranopithecus and Anadoluvius.
In a context of climate change in the late Miocene, with the progressive disappearance of forests and the expansion of more arid environments in the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia, adaptation to life on the ground could have favored the emergence of bipedalism.
If this interpretation is confirmed, the The first hominids may have appeared in Eurasia before migrating to Africawhere they would give rise to later forms of the human lineage.
Below is the 2017 ZAP article on the 2017 Greek discovery:
